Stories to Watch at VALORANT Champions 2024

VALORANT’s biggest tournament of the year is about to get underway. Taking place from August 1 to 25 in Seoul and Incheon, South Korea, VALORANT Champions 2024 will feature the top 16 teams from around the world. This is the first Champs under the fully completed VALORANT esports four-region ecosystem. With a $2,225,000 prize pool and $1,000,000 for the winners on the line, everyone will be bringing their best game.

All Teams at VALORANT Champions 2024

The Best Team in the World

Gen.G Esports has a chance to complete the best full-season of VALORANT that we’ve ever seen. Yes, even better than Fnatic’s 2023 where they won two VCT Masters trophies. Gen.G is coming into VALORANT Champions 2024 as defending Pacific champs and defending VCT Masters champs.

Their overall results this season are as follows: 1st at VCT Pacific Kickoff, 2nd at VCT Masters Madrid, 2nd at VCT Pacific Stage 1, 1st at VCT Masters Shanghai, 1st at VCT Pacific Stage 2. They have not missed a Grand Finals yet this year and have won trophies in three of the five tournaments they’ve played.

If Gen.G were to win Champs, it would cap off the most dominant full year of VALORANT ever played. Considering that a Pacific team had never won a VCT Masters event before their win at Shanghai in June, that’s a pretty huge shift in a short amount of time. Gen.G rose to god-like status in 2024, and they’ll be more motivated than ever to show that they are the best team in the world.

Though they weren’t infallible during the Stage 2 regular season, Gen.G showed tremendous resilience and adaptability in the important games. They seem to have completely overcome their inexperience, now showing the composure of a seasoned squad.

Of course, Paper Rex can not be discounted. They were Pacific’s greatest hope in the years prior and are still a very threatening squad. DRX is also here to throw their hat in the ring. This could be the year the Pacific elevates itself in the regional ranks. Having the best team in the world leading them would make that argument much more convincing.

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The New Americas Vanguard

Gone are the days when LOUD and the OpTic/NRG core qualified for every VALORANT LAN. The Americas region abounds with talented rosters and hungry players waiting to rise to the top. This season has seen a new set of squads vying for position in VALORANT’s strongest region.

Leading the charge as the first seed is Leviatán. This roster was put together at the start of the year and featured a core of solid Chilean players and a contender for best Duelist in the world, Erick “aspas” Santos. Their newest addition, Corbin “C0M” Lee of Evil Geniuses’ Champs winning squad, was the final piece of the puzzle.

Leviatán dominates with a mix of raw fragging power and explosive strategies. There’s almost no team more oppressive when they’re on their game. However, their success is often tied directly to aspas’s performance. If he’s having an off day, LEV has the potential to fall flat.

G2 Esports was the most consistent team in the Americas this season. Coming into the league from Ascension, they made it to the Grand Finals in Stages 1 and 2. They also managed a top-three finish at VCT Masters Shanghai. Yet, they haven’t lifted a trophy yet. G2 is a team to watch, as they’ll be more motivated than ever to prove themselves now that their eyes are on them.

One of the biggest wildcards of the tournament is Sentinels. The VCT Masters Madrid champions had a rough go back in the Americas, failing to win a single map in the Playoffs. They only qualified for this event on a points tiebreaker. They still have the star power to win games; the question is if they can put it all together in time.

EMEA is a How Many Team Region?

The answer may surprise you. Before this year, EMEA’s only international success came at the hand of Fnatic’s dominance. Jokes made their rounds of EMEA as a one-team region. That all changed at VCT Masters Shanghai. It wasn’t Fnatic who made a deep run; it was Team Heretics. With the chips on the table, TH ran through every EMEA team in the Playoffs, China’s best team, EDG, and even G2 Esports on the way to the finals.

Though they were no match for Gen.G, this performance showed that EMEA has a deeper pool of teams that can perform at LAN. This year, we’ve seen the rise of teams like Karmine Corp, Team Vitality, and even frequent bubble finishers FUT Esports. VALORANT Champions 2024 seems like the first tournament where any EMEA team could go on a deep run.

Speaking of Vitality, they’ve seen a massive boost to their performance as recently as the Stage 2 Playoffs. For a team that hadn’t accomplished much yet, making a Grand Finals with back-to-back wins over the VCT Shanghai runners-up Heretics is nothing to scoff at.

Though, because of all the changes in the region, Fnatic is still there and ready to fight. After their disappointing run at Shanghai, they scored a perfect 4-0 in Stage 2 and 4-0 in the Playoffs to claim a second straight EMEA title. They did this despite losing Leo “Leo” Jannesson to health issues and having to find a replacement suddenly.

Will FNATIC rise or fall at #VALORANTChampions Seoul? pic.twitter.com/xsBwMKFVP5

— VALORANT Champions Tour (@ValorantEsports) July 29, 2024

Who knows, maybe Fnatic will have a shot at denying Gen.G the chance to usurp their 2023 run of success. If they do end up in that matchup, Fnatic certainly has their work cut out for them.